Arad stood, and so did Eris by his side, “If this is all, I will take my leave then,” He said with a smile.
Five, Alice’s projection stared at him with an emotionless face before breaking into a clearly faked smile. “This one might not be tuned well, but it still holds some of my power.” She lifted her hand, staring at her fingers.
“So?” Arad stared at her.
“I have something you can help me with. In exchange, I will give you a specially made magic item. Titans’ spatial bag,” She pulled on her hair, looking at it with a grin.
“If it only stores things then I don’t need it,” Arad replied, “I already have my own,”
“Titans’ spatial bag is made from our hair and strung with magic. A true piece of artwork a load of money,” She extended her hand toward Arad, opening her palm. “Cursed metal, I will make one that can hold that safely. For capacity…” She paused, looking at her hands…
“A witch on top of being a wizard,” Eris glared at her, “Even this projection has her nails enchanted,”
The projection smiled, “That’s right, I haven’t made a bag in quite a few decades. I want to gauge my magic output and see what can I make.” She showed Arad her fingernails, “Witches cast magic using their nails, hair and blood. Each medium can affect the result, but nails are popular among witches as durable and replenishable.”
Arad stared at Five’s fingers with a puzzled face, “Last I heard, hair and blood refresh with time as well. But who I’m to ask? I’m not a witch,”
“Sadly, you’re right. It is about magic durability. Hair gets burned with a simple spell while nails don’t.” Five took off her shoes and stared at her toes, “My collective magic output is…a bit higher than it was a decade ago. I can make a bag that holds three tons, give or take half a ton.”
Arad smiled, “What the mission is about?”
Five smiled, “I knew this would interest you.” She flicked her fingers, and a large map popped out of nowhere.
“Some bandits have tamed giants and goblins, and are attacking people left and right. I want you to kill every last one of them and burn their whole encampment.” She pointed at the bandit’s location on the map.
“One question,” Eris stared at her with a sharp, “Why don’t you kill them?”
“Only a tenth of my power is distributed on my projections, and there are ten of them.” Five opened her arms, “I five, merely hold one percent of my true body power. There is only so much I can achieve on my own,”
“Like what?” Arad stared at her.
“The only magic I can use to kill them all in one swoop is meteor fall, but if I did that it would cause a lot of noise and attract attention. And I won’t have enough magic to hide it.” She shook her head, “I can either cast a large enough barrier or blast them, not both at the same time,”
“That’s when I come into play,” Arad sighed, “You lock everything in a barrier while I kill everyone inside and clean the mess.”
Eris smiled, “After that, it will look as if those bandits have disappeared without a trace.”
“Now that everything is laid on the table, want to help?” Five looked at Arad, faking an anticipating stare. She wasn’t that good at mimicking human emotions, making it creepy for the observant.
^[A projection, she’s more like a doll mimicking the original’s actions, speech, and will. The true Alice Dagon must be asleep in her lair as her mind controls those puppets.]^
“I will do it. Such a bag would be invaluable.” He smiled, but Five waved her hand, stopping him. “Not now. The mission must be done at night. Otherwise, your partner won’t get a chance to fight.”
Arad smiled, “Is that all?”
“Of course, with how many bandits are there, it’s a waste for them to be killed without a reason.” She smiled, “They can serve as food, for you and her. She also can’t fight during the day.”
Eris smiled, “Two vampires going out to hunt at night, that would be fun,”
“Well then,” Five smiled, clapping her hands. The scene around them changed, and they emerged in the middle of a wide dirt arena. Arad could see adventurers lined around the area, shouting and cheering.
He glared at Five, “Where is Eris?”
“Left her at my office. She can’t walk in the sun, remember?” She smiled, “Don’t worry, they can’t hear us speak,”
“What are you up to?” As Arad growled, veins bulged on his head, “I will snap your neck.”
“Don’t get angry. I only want to see how much can you handle.” She put her hands together, “It’s kind of a tradition here to test every new adventure to know exactly how much they can take. It helps us give appropriate quests.”
“Ranks are enough,” Arad growled.
“No, they aren’t,” Five smiled, “Sometimes, an adventure with a power far above his rank can appear. This helps us find those people instead of letting them be treated like weak F-ranks.” .
CLANG! Arad pulled a regular sword from his stomach. He won’t use his true weapons. Those are better kept for opponents that won’t live to tell the tale.
“Come at me, kid,” Five smiled, lifted her hands, and put them together, closing her eyes as a wave of magic covered her body. Her eyes opened and Arad started to move.
His body bent sideways, leaving after images as he moved faster than the eyes of the adventuers could track. The compressed draconic muscles beneath his skin acted like steel springs under high tension, snapping into a violent charge.
CRACK! Arad stopped with his right foot forward, his arm swinging down the blade at a blinding speed, racing toward Five’s head.
Five smiled, parting her hands, and a long quarterstaff appeared. With a fluid motion, she shifted the base and hit Arad’s right ankle, breaking his stance.
Arad’s body started tilting, now without a balance, the force of his swing was driving his body astray, away from Five’s head. But his mind didn’t care, sending a wave of magic across his nerves, forcing a smell to emerge from within his legs. [Gravity Magic]
Arad’s body froze rigid mid-air for a split second. Using the magic as a leverage point, he kept swinging.
Seeing Arad’s blade heading toward her head once again, Five smiled, her body flashing blue as she teleported away. DING!
CLAP! The adventurers cried as a loud boom assaulted their ears. Arad who was standing facing Five was now drifting toward the guard rails, his feet digging trenches as his eyes stayed focused on her. Only a few managed to steal a glimpse of what happened.
“You’re fast,” Five said with a smile, “You almost hit me. This is the ninth time someone managed that.”
Arad stood, glaring at her with purple glowing eyes, “Almost?” He looked down at his shoes. Those were a new pair of leather boots. But they had torn apart. Of course they did, he didn’t intend to fight today, and they weren’t made for it.
With a sight, “They were new,” And a sad face, Arad took off his shoes and shirt, throwing them in his stomach with the sword.
The adventurers watching stared in shock, seeing Arad’s muscular back that almost didn’t look human. “I have to get serious, don’t I,” He started cracking his neck and back, “Even if you’re merely one percent,”
Thud! Thud! He started hopping in place with a smile on his face, his arms quickly lifted into a stance as sparks of flames came out of his fists and feet.
“Serious? You should have done it from the start,” She smiled, pointing the quarterstaff toward him.
BAM! Suddenly, Arad kicked the ground, and a jet of flames burst beneath his foot, propelling his whole body forward and blasting all the adventures behind the guard rail away.
Five smiled, Arad’s flaming fist racing toward her at an unhuman speed, raging with his draconic might. It looked more like a falling meteor than a punch.
She smiled, shifting her head to the side. [Icearos] CRACK! A wave of blue magic rushed from the tip of the staff, forming a net between her and Arad. When his fist hit the net, it slowed down dramatically like a ball hitting a piece of cloth.
Arad wasn’t done, fire exploded beneath his left foot as it lifted up, shattering the ground beneath him as he smiled. Five’s eyes flashed to the side, seeing her fiery kick lifting up toward her side.
Arad was too tall, and his kick would wrap around her net. She had to respond.
Disabling the net, Five tilted her staff and blocked Arad’s kick with the lower pommel.
Arad smiled as she fell for his plan. CLENSH! With his toes, he grabbed the staff. Five’s eyes opened wide as she felt a tremendous weight pulling on the quarterstaff. Arad wasn’t a human, he didn’t have arms and legs, fingers and toes. All he had was four limbs with claws, draconic claws that never let go of his prey.
CLACK! As the quarterstaff got snatched from Five’s hands, she swung her hands and clapped them together. [Teleport] Escaping away from Arad.
CLAP! To the watches, they got blasted one second and in the next, the arena center charred was black with Arad standing there, Five’s staff beneath his foot.
“Hehehehe,” Five giggled in the back, looking at Arad with a smile, “You’re already pushing against A-ranks, and you’re faster than most of them.”
“Using fire to accelerate is a trick that a senior adventurer taught me to use,” Arad said, tilting his head as the purple flame burned in his eyes. “But it seems, I’m still too slow to catch you,” He took a stance.
“Let’s he how fast I can go.” CRACKLE! Lightning sparked from his back to his arms and legs.